Joe Gerardi wrote:
Why apply it to only Chinese instruments?
Where do you see anyone doing that? Knockoffs are made all over the world, but China and Pakistan in particular have pretty large industries making instruments, some of which fall under the "knockoff" category.
Joe Gerardi wrote:
Can't have it both ways, people- EVERYTHING that isn't the original is a knockoff, or nothing is. Pointing out ONE item as a knockoff is not proper, and infers that it's lower quality for that lower price.
It doesn't "infer" it, that's what it means! And that's fine, if that's what you're looking for. As I've said multiple times, I own some knockoff instruments, and they're great. But I'm under no pretenses that my mandolin sounds and plays like a Gibson, or my ukulele like a Martin. Nor did the "Woodi" whistle I tried play or sound like a Susato. But they're cheaper, and in some cases more hardy or have other good attributes. My grandfather always said that the fake Rolex he bought in the 70s worked better than his actual Rolex!
The MO of companies like the one posted is to take existing designs and manufacture them in a way that brings cost of production down, so that they can either sell them for a lower price or (as seems to be the case with this example) get more profit from each one sold. That's how the business works. More power to them, I think competition is a good thing in the instrument manufacturing world. There are many Chinese companies that actually build their own designs, and have some pretty amazing instruments for not a lot of money. But this company is not one of them, at least judging by what they currently sell (and not just the whistles). I don't think it's being unfair to them to say that they're in the business of making knockoffs, however well-made those knockoffs are.